Costa Rica- trip questions
 

Hi,
First time to CR, and need advices for this trip. We will arrive on Aug. 11th at 1:30 PM and leave on Aug 18th at 2:30 PM. We, 3 adults, would like to visit Arenal and Monteverde areas. By reading the posts, many recommended staying in Arenal for 3 nights. We would like to have a nice accommodation with moderate price. We would like to meet people during the trip. Where should we stay? We haven't made any reservations yet? Is it a good idea to just wink it?

Do you recommend join the tour groups and what company should we choose? Should we do Ziplining in Arenal or by Monteverde? any suggestion for lodging near Monteverde? How many nights should we stay there?

Should we stay in San Jose and visit the city ?

How do we take adantage of the first day ( arriving at 1:30 PM) and last day ( leaving at 2:30 PM). Where should we stay and what should we do to make good use of the time in CR.

In addition, should we resere a suv now or should we wait until we get there. Do we need to get the car on the first day nor the last day? We have so many questions, and we welcome any suggestions.

Thank you,

Judy

You might consider an itinerary like this:

Wednesday - arrive 1:30 pm - spend the night in San Jose

Thursday - do a City Tour of San Jose in the morning and then transfer to Arenal

Friday - Arenal
Saturday - Arenal
Sunday - morning in Arenal and transfer to Monteverde afternoon
Monday - Monteverde
Tuesday - Monteverde morning and transfer to Alajuela afternoon and night in Alajuela
Wednesday - Tours in Alajuela area morning (coffee tour, butterfly farm, Zoo Ave) - to airport at noon for flight
home.

For Arenal: www.arenal.net
For Monteverde: www.monteverdeinfo.com
For transport: www.shuttlebus.co.cr, www.tucanlimoservices.com Sansa Airlines or NatureAir.

If you want to rent a car, you should reserve it ahead of time. Check several companies and before you make a commitment, check on Trip Advisor or elsewhere for reviews to be sure you are dealing with a good company.

If you are arriving on August 11 of this year, you are already winging (winking?) it. If you do wing it on site, you may end up wasting a lot of time finding something that pleases you.

Look at the websites mentioned above and learn what choices are available to you.

At this point, if your planning is only at this stage, good advice might be to consult a travel agent who specializes in Costa Rica. Monteverde is hard to get to and you will lose a lot of time in transit.

I would plan ahead! The itinerary suggested above is a good one.

In Arenal we stayed at Silencio del Campo( small, familly run), in Monteverde at Sapo Dorado, (individual cabins on a mountainside) and in Alajuela at Orquideas (close to the airport). I would recommend all of these places, but there are many others recommended on this forum.

We Zip lined in Monteverde and loved it!

The only time we joined a tour group was our trip to Cano Negro from La Fortuna.

Regarding lodging in Arenal: You can stay in the La Casona at Arenal Observatory Lodge for only $70 per night. It is a "shared" bathroon, but it is very clean and there are multiple mini-shower rooms with doors that shut. If you want to spend more, you can also upgrade your room. We loved staying there. Take the three hour free nature tour in the morning. It's great. We saw lava from our bed both nights. Amazing.

For ziplining in Monteverde go with Selvatura.